


Beneath The Darkness

by Dragongoddess13



Series: Ghost Whisperer AU [15]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Angst, Demons, F/M, Ghost Whisperer AU, potential smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:55:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragongoddess13/pseuds/Dragongoddess13
Summary: After months of nightmares things finally come to a head for Arya and Gendry. With help from Lyanna they'll fight for their very souls in the climax of Arya's individual journey.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: Ghost Whisperer AU [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715362
Comments: 34
Kudos: 96





	1. It Lives In The House

**Author's Note:**

> This is by far the most important story in Arya's individual journal. Whereas the next story will be the most important in Gendry's individual journey. We're almost to the end of the series now, five more stories after this.

Beneath The Darkness

Chapter 1: It Lives In The House

xXx

“If I had known getting you to take your PT was this easy, I would have set you up with someone years ago.” Davos says, as he drops the approved request forms on Gendry’s desk. 

Gendry picks them up, chuckling. “Yeah, well, what can I say. I finally have a good reason to spend time away from work.” 

“Aww, isn’t he sweet?” Arya’s voice sounds behind them and they both turn to find her walking toward them, Podrick at her side grinning. 

“Precious.” Podrick agrees. 

Gendry rolls his eyes. “Any luck?” He asks. Arya shakes her head. 

“Nothing. Don’t think I’ll be much help on this one.” 

“Well, it was worth a shot.” He says. “Plus with everything going on, it was probably a long shot.” 

Confused Podrick asks; “What’s going on?”

Arya shrugs. “There’s something attached to us.” She explains. “Don’t know what but it seems like it’s trying to tell us something.”

Gendry huffs. “Wish it would just use it’s words.” he mutters under his breath, turning back to his desk. Before anyone can answer his phone rings and he answers it. Arya smiles ruefully, walking over and kissing him on the cheek as he speaks. As she turns to walk away she hears; “Can you hold just a moment please? Thanks.” before he speaks to her. “How are you getting home?” he asks. 

She turns. “Podrick offered to take me.” she tells him. 

“Got an appointment on that side of town in a bit.” Podrick adds. 

“Alright, be careful. I should be home around six.” 

She acknowledges him and he turns back to his conversation.

It’s not long before he finishes, hanging the phone up and getting back to work. Not long after Jon wanders over, taking a seat next to his desk. 

“I hear my mother is staying with you for a few days.” Jon says. Jon has never been an outwardly emotional person, but Gendry can tell by his strained voice that he’s worried. Clearly Lyanna filled him in. 

“Yeah, for a few days. Promise we won’t hog her the whole time.” Gendry tries to be lighthearted but it falls flat. 

They sit in silence for a moment until Jon leans forward over his knees. “Listen, I don’t know what kind of help I can be with this, but if either of you need anything… I’m here.”

Gendry looks up at him, studying the hard lines of his face. Jon is only a few months younger than Gendry but he looks as though he’s aged significantly in the last week. He can’t blame him, Gendry feels as though he’s aged too. 

“You worry about protecting your girls.” Gendry tells him. “I’ll take care of Arya, I promise.” 

Jon hesitates a moment. “I know you will.” He gets up then. “Sorry I ever doubted that.” He continues before heading back to his desk. 

xXx

“So, this thing, what do you think it’s trying to tell you?” Podrick asks as he pulls out of the parking garage a few minutes later. 

“I haven’t the faintest idea.” Arya replies. “Whatever it is, it’s not good.” 

“What makes you say that?”

“I can’t imagine any message it has for us can be good when every nightmare involves getting swallowed up by darkness.” she explains as they pull up to a stop light. Podrick looks over at her concerned. “I know.” she sighs. 

“Where would you even have picked up a spirit like that?” 

“Literally anywhere. It could be new, it could be someone we’ve come across before trying to warn us. It could be someone we’ve come across who hates us.” 

“Could it be something attached to the house?” Podrick asks as the light changes and he drives forward. 

Arya hesitates. “I suppose that’s possible, though I have no idea why they waited so long to make themselves known…” she pauses, a thought crossing her mind. “There were shadows once.” she mutters. 

“What?” 

“Shadows, spirits that have been earthbound without purpose for so long they’ve forgotten themselves and lost their clarity. They appear as shadowy figures. There were three or four in the house when I moved in and when Gendry and I emptied the attic we found a lot of stuff that may have belonged to some of them. After awhile I noticed they were gone.” 

“Because you found their stuff?” he asks, confused. 

“Yes, by bringing their stuff out into the open so they can see it, so long as they aren’t too far gone, they can potentially remember who they were and move on.” 

“So maybe someone remembered who they were and then stuck around, hiding in the house.” 

“It’s possible.” 

Eventually Podrick pulls up her driveway. “Thanks again.” she tells him as she opens the door. 

“No problem. Let me know if you guys need any help.” 

Arya smiles. “Thank you, Pods, really.” 

He smiles as she climbs out of the car, waiting until she’s back in the house before he backs out.

The minute Arya steps through the front door she feels a heavy weight settle on her shoulders. She doesn’t know if it’s because she’s just had a conversation about it, or because Podrick is right, but something is wrong. She stands frozen to her spot, the temperature of the house feeling as though it’s dropping the longer she stands there. She tries to tell herself it’s all in her head, that she’s all worked up from the drive home, but her body doesn’t listen. Her heart begins to race, blood rushing in her ears. She begins to shake. 

She’s not sure how, but somehow she finds herself able to move, turning slowly, like she’s being watched and trying not to seem suspicious. She reaches for the doorknob, twisting it, only to find the knob won’t budge. She tries a few times, checking the knob lock and the bolt, but both are unlocked. Despite this the door won’t budge and she fights back the feeling of panic that threatens to overcome her. She takes in a deep shaking breath, turning from the door and walking up the stairs, slowly, the weight of being watched getting worse. She clocks the creak of the step near the top, the sound strangely grounding her as she slowly makes her way to the bedroom. As she nears the door, panic begins to take hold and she picks up her pace as though she’s being followed. She doesn’t know if she imagines the footsteps behind her at first, but the minute she hears that creak on the step her heart jumps and bolts for the bedroom. She dashes through the open door, slamming it closed behind her, the blood pounding in her ears as she gasps for breath. 

As her breath begins to slow, she starts to think that perhaps it was all in her head, right up until the bedroom door begins to shake, the knob rattling as something tries to open the door. 

“Arya!” Gendry’s voice filters through the door, the concern and fear clear in it. “Arya! Open the door. Arry! Can you hear me?” 

“Gendry?” she gasps, sense coming back to her all at once. She walks to the door, hesitating for only a moment before opening it to find Gendry leaning on the frame on the other side. Concern plays clearly across his face as he sees her. He steps across the threshold, pulling her into his arms. “What are you doing home so early?” she asks. 

Gendry pulls back, holding her away from him. “Arry, it’s almost six, I haven’t seen you in four hours.” 

Arya stares up at him, trying to process what he’s said. She understands the words individually, but strung together they make no sense. She’d only been home a few minutes, how could it be four hours later? SHe had just said goodbye to Podrick, just walked through the door. 

“When I got home you were holding the door shut.” he continues. She shakes her head. “I tried to knock but it was like you couldn’t hear me? You were staring at the knob in a trans when I peeked through the window. What happened.”

She continues to shake her head, confused. “No, I just got home. And the door wouldn’t open.” absently she looks to the alarm clock on the end table on his side of the bed, seeing that he was in fact right, it was just turning six now. 

“What do you mean the door wouldn’t open?” he asks. “What happened when you got home?” 

Arya looks back at him. She can feel how wide her eyes are, but she’s lost the ability to control even her basic functions. Her mind is swimming, her thoughts racing one after the other as she tries to remember everything that happened leading up to this moment. 

“I felt like I was being watched.” she tells him. “There was something here and I…” he pauses, the words suddenly disappearing from her mind.

“What love?” Gendry’s voice is gentle, his thumb running gently against her cheek. “What happened?” 

“I… couldn’t… move.” she forces out. “I was scared, there was something watching me and I tried to leave, but the door wouldn’t open, even though it wasn’t locked.” she explains. She must sound as frantic as she feels recounting everything, because Gendry steps closer, wrapping his arms around her. 

“Fuck.” she hears him curse under his breath, arms tightening slightly as he leans down and lays a kiss on the top of her head. 

“I don’t think it’s us.” she finally speaks again. “I think it’s in the house. Not attached to us.” 

She feels him sigh as he pulls her closer. “Then we can actually do something instead of waiting around for them to come out.” she looks up at him, her chin resting against his chest. “We can research the house, see who lived here and if they’re still alive we can talk to them and if they're not, then we talk to they’re families.” a wave of calm washes through her at his words, they have a plan now, and with Gendry taking control she has confidence in their ability to overcome this. 

She can’t explain the feeling she gets all of a sudden, staring up at him, listening to him be so assertive. It’s like the fear is gone, replaced by something deeper, more feral. “I love when you take control.” she tells him, nearly growling, watching his pupils expand as he processes her words. 

“Oh yeah?” he questions, his voice dropping an octave. 

She hums, biting her lip as he closes the distance. And just like, for awhile at least, it’s like it never happened. 


	2. Sanctuary Lost

Beneath The Darkness

Chapter 2: Sanctuary Lost

xXx

Arya relaxes as Gendry steps through the bedroom door carrying a lap tray laden with food and using his heel to shut the door behind him. He makes his way over to the bed, setting the tray legs on either side of her lap and crawling in beside her. 

“How are you feeling?” he asks, reaching over and picking up the bottle of beer on the tray. He takes a sip, then turns and puts it on his bedside table. 

Arya sighs, picking up the glass of wine. “Better now that you’re back.” she tells him honestly.

“Really?” he asks. 

Arya nods. “I don’t know what it was, but I couldn’t make myself leave the room when you suggested going to get something to eat.” she explains. “And not in a lazy way, I was terrified of moving.” she takes a sip of her drink. “I know logically that it doesn’t matter, whatever this is can get me anywhere, but… I just couldn’t move at the thought of going back downstairs.” 

“Hey.” Gendry says, leaning over on his arm to get closer to her. “You don’t need to defend yourself to me, Love. We’ll figure this out and we’ll stop it and until then, we’ll do what we need to to get through.” 

Arya smiles down at him, leaning over to kiss him. Everyday she thinks she can’t love him anymore and every day, he proves her wrong. 

Gendry smiles, sitting up and they set to work eating the food he brought up. At some point he asks; 

“So, have you heard of this happening before?”

Arya hesitates, staring down at the food tray in thought. “Sort of.” she eventually replies. “It’s hard to know if it's exact, but supposedly you can be influenced by something to the point of losing time or forgetting it happened at all. Like you fell asleep. I’m not really sure about it in detail though.”

“Something to talk to Lyanna about when she gets here tomorrow then?” 

Arya nods. “If anyone would know she would. I’m not thrilled with the idea of telling her about all of this though?” 

“I know, but we can’t keep her in the dark if she’s going to be staying here. Plus, I know you don’t want to think about this but this could have something to do with the corrupted king.”

“Why all of a sudden though? I mean sure we had those nightmares, but that’s nothing compared to all of this. Why is it suddenly so bad?” 

“I don’t know, love. I wish I did, but I bet with a little research, we can figure it out together.” 

Arya sighs, sinking back into her pillows. She knows he’s right, they can figure out what’s going on, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll be able to stop it. She wants to believe that they will, that there isn’t anything they can’t accomplish together, that their love is all that they need to thrive, but bad memories die hard and there’s still a little part of her that’s waiting for it all to come apart. 

“Hey.” Gendry’s voice pulls her from her thoughts. She turns her head to look at him, realizing the food tray is gone as she does. “I love you.” he tells her. And just like that all the fear and doubt fade away. 

“I love you too.” 

xXx

Gendry wakes feeling heavy and full of dread. He hasn’t felt this way in quite some time, even when the nightmares wake him, which, incidentally, they haven’t in several days. In fact, to his best recollection, he hasn’t had a nightmare since the morning they left for Winterfell last weekend. Normally he would celebrate that fact, but given what Arya had been through the night before, Gendry wasn’t so sure it was a good thing. 

Gendry rolls over to find the bed beside him empty. He reaches out, feeling the sheets and finds them cold, indicating that Arya has been up for a while. He looks across the room at the bathroom door and sees it standing open, letting him know she’s not there. A part of him choses to believe that this is a good thing. After they had finished last night, Arya had refused to leave the bedroom, too frightened by what she couldn’t remember of her missing four hours to risk walking freely around the house. The fact that she got out of bed without him leads him to believe she might be doing better. 

The other part of him, the cynical part that remembers every detail of every bad thing that’s happened to Arya in the last few years knows better, a fact that is proven correct when he turns and sits up, spotting her standing in front of the closed bedroom door. She’s stalk still, staring down at the knob, her hand wrapped around the cool brass, knuckles white from strain. 

“Arry?” he calls out gently, but she doesn’t move, doesn’t answer him. Quickly he gets up, grabbing his sweatpants from the floor and slipping them on. He approaches her and when she doesn’t react to his presence he gently lays his hands on her shoulders and attempts to pull her away from the door. Her grip on the knob won’t ease however and it takes him nearly five minutes to pry her fingers from around it without hurting her. As soon as her hand releases the knob she gasps, spinning around and punching him in the shoulder, forcing him to let her go in his surprise. “Arya!” he exclaims. Arya stares up at him, eyes wide like she’s seeing him for the first time. “What the hell are you doing?” 

“What?” she asks confused, tears misting her eyes. All the anger and surprise goes out of him then and he moves in closer. 

“You had a death grip on the door knob, just standing there staring at it.” he tells her, his voice much calmer than before. 

“What time is it?” she asks. Based on her tone he’s certain she doesn’t really want the answer, but he turns to look at the bedside clock anyway. 

“8:15.” The tears that mist her eyes begin to fall, and he reaches up on instinct to wipe them away. He doesn’t want to ask, but he knows he needs to. “What time did you get up?” 

Arya sniffles, resting her forehead against his chest. “Six.” she replies. 

“So… you’ve been standing here for two hours?” it doesn’t need to be said, he already knows the answer. She nods, hands coming up cover her face. Gendry wraps his arms around her, holding her tightly as she sobs.

“What is going on?” she sobs. “Why is this happening?” 

“I don’t know, but we’re not staying here today, not until your aunt arrives.” he tells her, moving her toward the bed. He sits her down, kneeling in front of her and wiping away the wet tracks on her cheeks. “Just stay here.” he tells her. He waits for her to nod then gets up, disappearing into the closet and returning with clothes. He hands them to her and instructs her to dress while he does as well. While she finishes he disappears into the bathroom and comes back out a few moments later. He moves around the bedroom, making sure he has everything and when he’s sure he does he bundles her up and leads her out of the room. They stop long enough downstairs to grab her purse and his car keys and then, surprising to both of them, they're out the door. 

“Why did it let us leave?” Arya asks when they get in the car. 

“I don’t know, but we’re out and I’m not going to look that gift horse in the mouth.” he tells her, starting the car and backing out of the driveway. It’s not until they're a block away that Arya asks where they're going.

“City hall and then the library.” he explains. “We’re going to look into the house and whoever lived there,” he continues. “We don’t have to pick up your aunt from the airport until this afternoon, so we have all day to search. I’ll even call Podrick if I  _ fucking  _ have to.” his words grow more and more tense, his hands clenching around the steering wheel. It’s not until he feels the weight of her hand on his that he notices, however. He releases the tension he’s holding and let’s everything out in one long, slow breath. “I’m sorry love. I didn’t mean to upset you.” 

Arya shakes her head, sitting back in her seat. “It’s okay, I understand.” she replies, her voice small. “Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you if you just wanted to walk away after all of this. I mean it’s a lot, I can’t imagine what you must be feeling.” 

Gendry pulls into the city hall parking lot and shuts the car of, turning as much as he can in his seat to face her. “Listen to me.” he says, his voice soft but firm. “I am not going anywhere. I love you and I am here for all of it, good, bad and everything in between.” he reaches out, cupping her cheek and wiping a stray tear with his thumb. “We’re gonna get through this, even if I have to fist fight a fucking ghost.” 

Arya laughs at that, the tension easing with the sound. “I’d kind of like to see that.” 

Gendry grins. “Me too honestly.” he nods toward the building in front of them. “Come on, I’ve got a contact in county records, we’ll see if they can find anything about previous owners.” 

Arya nods in agreement, getting out of the car as he does. “What about crimes?” she asks.

“What do you mean?” he asks. 

“You know, police reports. See if any crimes happened on the property.” 

“Yeah, that’s… good call.” he replies, pulling out his phone. He shoots off a text quickly and puts it away. “We’ll see if Podrick can find anything.” 

Gendry leads Arya through the building and to an office in the back where it’s fairly empty. They step up to a window and Gendry peaks his head inside. “Sam, you here mate?” They hear a light thump and a muffled curse before a large man comes around the corner of a stack of shelves. He smiles at them. 

“Hey Gendry, Pods said you were on vacation this week, I knew he was just messing with me.” Sam laughs. 

Gendry chuckles. “Sorry to tell you, but he was right. I’m here on personal business.” he tells him, stepping aside to reveal Arya. “This is Arya.” 

“Jon’s cousin?” Sam asks, sticking his hand out the window to greet her. She nods, accepting. “Pleasure to finally meet you.” 

“Likewise.” she replies. 

“So what kind of personal business brings you here?” Sam asks. 

“We’re looking for sale and or ownership records for 1159 Red River Run.” Gendry explains. “Anything you can find will be quite helpful.” 

“Alright, let me see what I’ve got.” he turns from the window and takes a seat at a desk not far from them. They watch as he types away for a few minutes before he finally speaks up again. “Okay, got a few things.” he tells them as the printer starts up. He crosses the room, grabs the few sheets that come out and returns to the window. “Looks like the house was passed down through a family for a couple of generations before being foreclosed on.” he explains, passing the papers through the window. Gendry takes them, quickly skimming them. He hands them to Arya next, who takes a little more time to read them as Gendry turns back to Sam. 

“Is that all?” he asks. 

“I’m afraid so. Officially speaking anyway. I’m sure you can find more down in the records room at the public library.” 

Gendry hums. “That’s where we’re headed next anyway.” he reaches out to shake Sam’s hand. “Thanks Sam, I owe you one.” 

Sam chuckles. “I’ll keep that in mind. It was nice to finally meet you Arya.” he tells them as they turn to leave. 

“You as well.” she replies before they walk off. 

Not long after they’re back in the car, driving the several blocks to the library. “It says here the land was bought by a man named Paul Drahmer. He built the house as we know it over the course of the year. Several years later Darlene Drahmer nee Saltsman was added to the papers. About thirty years after that the house was transferred to Richard Drahmer and six months after that Cathleen Roxbury nee Drahmer and Michael Roxbury.” 

“So, grandfather bought the land and built the house, married. They died and the son inherited the house, he gave it to his daughter/niece, whatever, and her husband. Then… what? You bought it out of foreclosure didn’t you?” 

“Yeah.” she replies absently, flipping through the pages. “Got it! The house went into foreclosure and was listed as abandoned twenty years after Cathleen and Michael took ownership, which was about sevenish months before I found it.” 

“So when did they abandon it? And what of, if anything, was theirs from the attic.” 

“It doesn’t say, and I don’t know. It might not matter.” 

“Why not?” Gendry asks as he pulls into a parking space. They both get out and make their way toward the building. 

“They might not be dead. I mean, they can’t be that old, probably my parent’s ages.” Arya explains. “We should be able to look up their names and see if there are any obituaries attached.” 

Thirty minutes later, as Arya works at a computer, Gendry flips through bound newspaper clippings and old city logs. 

“I think I found something.” Arya speaks up. “April 13, 1982.”

“A date? For what?”

“I think it’s a date of death. It’s the only thing that comes up consistently when I search for Cathleen Roxbury or Cathleen Drahmer.” 

“No obit though?” 

“No, but we can use the date to check newspapers.” she suggests. 

Gendry hums in agreement, getting up and walking into the stacks. Not long after he returns with three newspapers in hand. “These are the only three rolls of microfiche. The librarian said these are the only three newspapers around back then that they have converted. The rest are all paper copies and you need special permission to access them because they’re being preserved, or something like that. If there is one, it should be in one of these though, they’re the main papers for the city.” 

They set up at one of the microfiche readers across the room and begin the process of scrolling through. The first paper doesn’t even have obituaries in it and the second does, but not the one they’re looking for. The third seems like a bust too until they get to the last page. 

“Cathleen Roxbury nee Drahmer. Died April 13, 1982 of apparent heart attack.” Arya reads. “She was thirty four years old and leaves behind a husband and two children, a father, mother and several aunts and uncles.”

“It’s pretty sparse.” Gendry mutters. 

“Apparent heart attack?” Arya questions, also muttering to herself. They’re sitting so close though, he can’t help but to hear her. 

“Does that sound suspicious?” 

“I mean, other than the fact that she’s quite young for that sort of thing, the way they worded it sounds more like a medical examiner’s first report rather than a statement of facts. Doesn’t it?” 

Gendry turns back and reads it again. “Yeah, actually, it does.” Gendry looks around quickly before pulling out his cellphone. He pulls up a number and dials it. “Clegane? Gendry Waters.” he answers when the other line picks up. “Do you have a case file on a woman named Cathleen Roxbury, died 13th of April 1982?” he pauses listening to Sandor on the other end. “Yes right now.” Gendry sighs. “Thank you.” he looks at Arya, rolling his eyes and she chuckles. “You do?” he starts again suddenly. “Can you email it to me?” again he pauses, then; “Thank you.” before hanging up. 

“He’s got it?” Arya asks. He nods, grabbing Arya’s tablet out of her purse. He pulls up his email and after a few minutes a new one arrives from the coroner’s office. He hands it to Arya to read. “Cause of death was a heart attack, however, it seemed to be induced.” 

“Induced? How?” 

“She was shot through with adrenaline and hormones.” Arya explains. “It was suspicious, but there were no needle marks on her body and nothing in her stomach so she didn’t ingest it. The coroner ruled it unusual but natural.” 

“What kind of hormones?” Gendry asks. Arya looks at him impressed. “What? I’m not just a pretty face.” 

Arya smiles, turning back to the tablet and scrolling back up. “Looks like… sex hormones.” 

They’re silent for a moment, thoughts racing as things begin to click into place. 

“You and I…” Arya begins. “We’ve been…”

“Horny?” Gendry finishes. “More than usual at least. We haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other.” 

“Yeah, but… it started with you.” she replies. “Remember?” he shakes his head. “Well I do. You were all over me all the time and I certainly didn’t mind, but I did think it was a little strange sometimes.” 

“Alright, but you weren’t exactly inhibited yourself.” 

“No, but I assumed I was just reacting to you. Maybe there was more to it.”

“What, like it infected me and spread to you?” 

Arya shrugs. “I don’t know, I’ve never heard of anything like this before. Medically or supernaturally.” 

“Looks like we’ll have to talk to Lyanna about it.” the look on his face told her exactly how much he didn’t want to do that. He sighs. “But why did it start at all? And all of a sudden too?” 

“Do we just assume the nightmares are related?” Arya asks. 

Gendry nods. “I think we have to.” 

“Do you remember anything happening before the nightmares started?” 

Gendry stops to think about it for a moment. “The first time I had the nightmare was the night you told me about my mum.” he explains. 

“I started having them that night too, but compared to later ones they were fairly tame.” Arya replies. 

He turns to look at her. “When did they start getting worse?” 

This time Arya takes a moment to think. “When we got back from Storm’s End.” 

“When we were actually in the house together for the first time since that day.” 

Arya nods. “What happened that day that was different than all the others.” 

“I cut my hand on the door.” he says immediately, a wave of dread washing over him as the memory comes unbidden. “I cut my hand trying to open the cellar door.” He looks to Arya. 

“But that…” she stops, shaking her head as though the idea were utterly ridiculous.

“What?” He prompts her to continue. 

“That would imply some kind of seal on the door, and that you bleeding on it released whatever was being sealed.” 

“Is that really so hard to believe with everything going on?” He asks. 

“No, I guess not.” She concedes. 

“But why would someone seal something up inside that house.” 

Gendry hesitates to answer. He can think of at least one reason. “Maybe, someone out to get you?” He finally says. 

Arya shakes her head. “The door has been sealed since before I moved in.” She explains. “The real estate agent mentioned it while I was touring the house. Apparently a few other potential buyers were bothered by it and decided not to make offers.” 

The relief Gendry feels is palpable and he sinks back in his chair, turning ideas over in his head. This isn’t all that different from one of his cold cases. With the exception of the supernatural element it's all about putting the pieces together that fit together but not quite the same as they once did. Weathered with age you needed to be more opened minded to see where everything fell into place. 

“Well, the same family owned the house for decades, so it wouldn’t be much of a reach to assume they sealed something up in the house.” Gendry suggests. 

“I suppose, but why?” 

“I guess we’ll have to ask them.”


	3. Tensions Rising

Beneath The Darkness

Chapter 3: Tensions Rising  


xXx

Lyanna can sense the tension when she meets Gendry at the gate. “Where’s Arya?” she asks, as he takes her carry on for her. 

“In the car. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” Gendry replies. His tone is anything but conversational, that same tension lacing every word as it sits on his shoulders. 

“Is everything alright?” she questions, as they move toward baggage claim. 

“No.” this answer is blunt and to the point, which only concerns her that much more. 

“What’s going on?” she continues as they stop at the belt, already moving with luggage from her flight. 

Gendry sighs. “We’ll explain in the car.” he tells her. “It’s a long story.” The tension seems to have left a bit with that and Lyanna agrees, eventually pulling her bag off the conveyor belt and following Gendry to the car. Arya is sitting in the back seat, her head bent over something in her lap. Lyanna let’s Gendry take her bags to the trunk while she lightly knocks on the window. 

There’s no surer way to tell that something is wrong than to watch the way Arya jumps and screams at the tiny knock on the window. Startled, Lyanna opens the door. 

“Alright, what’s going on?” she demands. Arya moves over so she can slide in beside her, gathering up the papers she was looking through. The older Stark woman peaks at them, catching a few key words here and there. 

“It’s a long story.” Arya replies exhausted. 

“It’s an hour drive back to the city, we have time.” Lyanna says forcefully as Gendry climbs into the driver’s seat. He doesn’t say anything, pulling out of the parking lot and beginning the drive home. 

Arya sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “There’s something in the house.” she finally says. “Something that was sealed up in the cellar.” 

“What kind of something?” Lyanna asks. 

“We don’t know.” Gendry adds from the front seat. “Something that’s been affecting us for a few months now.” 

“Why didn’t you say something last weekend?” 

“It didn’t become apparent until last night?” 

“It didn’t?” Lyanna asks skeptically, then; “What happened last night?” 

It’s too late to cover though, Arya’s already sensed her tone. “Wait, did you sense something the last time we saw you?” 

Lyanna sighs, leaning back against the seat. She nods. “That’s why I’m here. I made up all that nonsense about an estate sale so I could poke around without either of you realizing.” 

“Why didn’t you say something?” Arya exclaims. 

“Because with everything going on, I didn’t know if there was something inside of you both that could take control if it realized it had been discovered.” 

“What did you sense?” Gendry asks, his tone calm. 

“A darkness.” she tells them. “First in you, the night I touched your arm in the archive. Then, the next night after dinner, when I touched Arya, I sensed it in her too. I was hoping to find out more this week, apparently I’m going to get my wish. So why don’t you start from the beginning. When did all of this start?” 

“A few months ago, back in late March early April. Gendry was trying to get that jammed cellar door open and he cut his hand.” Arya explains. 

“I bled on it.” 

“We started having bad dreams, but didn’t realize we were both having them. We realized this morning that they didn’t start getting bad until Gendry started spending the night in the house.”

“So everything is connected to the house?” 

Arya nods. “It seems like it. Everything happens in the house. The dreams, the weird noises.”

“Weird noises?” Gendry questions. 

Arya hesitates. “Yeah, I didn’t think about it until just now, but… one night a few months ago, I was making dinner before you got home and there was this weird knocking on the floor. It scared me but I pretty much forgot about it.” 

Lyanna is quiet for a moment, thinking, then asks; “What about your behaviors? Have they changed much?” she watches as Arya meets Gendry’s gaze in the rearview mirror. 

“Well, we’re… all over each other.” she explains. “Sometimes we lose hours worth of time just…” Arya cringes. “You know.” 

“How do you feel when that happens?” Lyanna asks. 

“Primal.” Gendry replies. Lyanna looks to Arya who nods in agreement. 

“Does any of this sound like something you’ve heard of?” Arya asks. 

“Possibly, but if I’m wrong it could be very dangerous, so I’ll need more information first. What’s all this?” she gestures to the papers Arya has stacked on her lap. 

“We did some research on the house and it’s previous owners.” she explains. 

“And?” 

“It was owned by the same family for a few decades. Built by the grandfather, then passed down to son and then granddaughter.” She tells her, and points out different things on the page she hands Lyanna as she speaks. “The granddaughter died of a heart attack induced by a sudden influx of adrenaline and hormones.” 

“Hormones?”

“Sex hormones.” Arya explains. “The coroner noted that she was very young to have a heart attack but couldn’t find any puncture marks or drugs in her system and nothing in her stomach so he ruled it strange but natural.” 

“What did her family have to say about that?” Lyanna asks. 

“Nothing that we could find. Her obituary is scarce and they weren’t interviewed for the paper or anything like that.” 

“We were discussing trying to find them.” Gendry speaks up.

Lyanna nods. “Good, they may know something, even if they don’t know exactly what it was.” 

“Gendry also has a friend looking into police reports for the house.” 

“What about finding the family?” Lyanna asks. 

“That’s next on the list.” Gendry explains. “As soon as we get home I’ve got a few contacts I can call.” 

“Good, then while you do that, Arya and I will search the house, see if there’s anything in the house that we can sense now that we know there’s something there.” 

Arya silently agrees and the next thirty minutes are spent in silence as they make their way back into the city.

xXx

The house is cold. Lyanna steps through the door and the chill that runs through her is like nothing she’s ever felt before. She fights the urge to turn and run, keeping up a brave face for Arya and Gendry. She knows their counting on her and she’ll be damned if she lets them down now. 

“Do you feel it?” Arya asks. Lyanna nods. “What do you think?” 

“I think, whatever it is it’s… very dark. Not evil necessarily, but definitely not good.” she sighs, turning to Gendry and taking her bags from him. “You start making your calls, we’ll start upstairs.” 

They don’t argue, Gendry heading off to the small home office off the kitchen while Arya leads Lyanna upstairs. They drop her bags in the guest room and before Arya can walk back out, Lyanna stops her. 

“Now that it’s just us. How are you doing?” she asks. 

Arya watches her a moment, sharp grey eyes searching her face. “I’m scared.” she finally replies. “I’m so scared. I’m afraid that I’m not strong enough to deal with this. I’m scared that I’m not strong enough to protect Gendry.” Lyanna steps forward, reaching out and wiping the tears that fall. “He’s so determined to help, to protect me. He can’t even see any of this, but he’s so willing to put himself between it and me and…” she stops, taking in a deep ragged breath. “I can’t lose him. I love him so much if anything happened to him because of me… I don’t think I could live with that.” Lyanna wraps her arms around Arya, pulling her close and holding her until there are no tears left. 

“We’re not going to let anything happen to him.” Lyanna tells her as she pulls away enough to look at Arya. She wipes the wet tracks from her cheeks gently. “I’m not going to let anything happen to either of you.” Arya nods, scrubbing at her cheeks and breathing to calm herself. “It’s going to be alright little wolf, I promise.” 

Arya takes another deep breath. “We should start in the attic. We found a lot of stuff up there a few years ago. When we brought it out it seemed to attract the attention of the shadows that were here when I moved in.” 

“Did you put everything back up there?” 

Arya nods, leading the way out of the room. “After the shadows disappeared, yes.” 

“Find anything interesting?” 

“Jewelry, clothing, books… home movies.” 

“What’s with the pause?” Lyanna questions. 

“Well, the home movies were… homemade sex tapes. And now that I’m remembering them, the woman in the tapes is the same woman who died of a heart attack.” 

“You said it was brought on by adrenaline and sex hormones, right?” Lyanna asks. 

“Yeah, at least that’s what the coroner report said.” Arya replies. “Does that help?” 

“It does more than it should.” Lyanna tells her as they reach the landing at the top of the stairs. Arya gestures to the far wall of the attic where plastic tote tubs were stacked neatly. 

“We donated the clothes to a second hand store downtown, the rest we packed back up and stored. Even with the shadows gone, it still felt wrong to give anything away.” 

“Understandable. I have trouble selling anything that comes through the shop with a spirit attached to it.” Lyanna explains as she moves toward the boxes. She stops in front of them, taking a moment to focus on them. “Have you been up here lately?” Arya shakes her head, making her way over. “Do you feel that?” Lyanna asks. 

“Yes, I do.” there was a slight chill near the boxes, one that got stronger the closer they moved toward one in particular. Together they moved the boxes around, pulling the one out and opening it up. Inside were the VHS tapes they had made light of. 

“You didn’t feel this when you packed them up?” 

“I didn’t put any of this away, Gendry did.” Arya explains. “I was busy at the clinic one day and he called to ask if he could put away the stuff from the attic yet because he was going to repaint the dining room where we left it out. I told him I hadn’t seen a shadow in a while and to go ahead. When I didn’t see anymore after he put it all away, I assumed I was right.” 

Lyanna hums. “We should watch these again. Now that we know there’s something more to them we should watch them and see if there’s anything only we can see.” 

Arya nods and they pack up the tapes, setting the box next to the stairs while they walk the rest of the attic, each of them circling the room in opposite directions. 

“I don’t sense anything else up here.” Lyanna says as she meets Arya in the middle. 

“Me neither.” Arya replies and together they make their way back down to the second floor with the box of tapes. “I think Gendry returned the VCR to Podrick, we’ll have to call him to get it back.” she explains, setting the box by the stairs and following Lyanna around the second floor. 

The rest of the floor was clear of any ill or strange feelings and it wasn’t until they reached the master bedroom that anything seemed unusual. At least to Lyanna that is. “Do you feel anything here?” she asks, turning to Arya. Arya shakes her head. 

“Do you?” Arya asks, her voice small. She doesn’t want there to be anything here, and Lyanna can imagine why. 

“I do.” she replies reluctantly. “It’s not that strong, but there is something here.” 

Arya takes a deep and shaky breath, forcing back the emotions that threaten to overcome her. Lyanna steps up to her, ushering her out of the room. “Come on, let’s check the rest of the house.” 

xXx

Gendry comes out of the office when he hears the doorbell ring, making it in time to see Arya opening the front door. She steps aside to let him in. “Hey mate, what’s with the VCR?” Gendry asks. 

“We’re going to watch those home movies you found cleaning out the attic.” Lyanna explains. 

“Awkward.” Podrick mutters, handing the VCR to Arya and a stack of files to Gendry. “Got a few reports from this address.”

“Anything interesting?” Gendry asks. 

Podrick shrugs. “Neighbor called the police thinking someone broke in once. I guess there was a lot of noise when no one was home and when the family got back the police were there and the place was trashed. There’s a couple of noise complaints and then a second potential break in. The neighbor said she saw a dark humanoid shape in the window while the family was out of town and called the police to look into it. There wasn’t anything suspicious so they wrote it up and put it away.” Podrick explains. “I’m no expert but that definitely sounds supernatural.” 

“Agreed.” Lyanna replies. She steps forward, hand out. “I’m Lyanna Stark by the way. Podrick, right?” 

Podrick accepts her hand, shaking it. “Yes ma’am.” he steps back. “Well, I have to get back to work. You guys know how to find me if you need anything else.” 

“Thanks mate.” Gendry replies and Podrick nods, stepping out the front door and closing it behind him. He turns to the girls when he’s gone. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to pass on watching those again.” 

Arya grins while Lyanna chuckles. “Understandable.” 

“Any luck finding the family?” Arya asks. 

“Maybe, I have a few more calls to make and I’m waiting for return calls.” with that he takes the files Podrick brought and disappears into the office again. The files themselves are pretty straight forward. Nothing more in them than Podrick already explained. The noise complaints seem to stem from various situations including one party that went late into the night and an argument that was determined by responding officers to be loud but harmless. 

Gendry closed the files and picked up his phone, making a few more calls over the next hour or so. When that’s finished, he makes a few notes in his tablet and then stands to join Arya and Lyanna in the living room. 

When he enters he finds the television off, Arya looking a little green while Lyanna seems highly concerned. “Did you find anything?” he asks, belatedly realizing that he hadn’t asked why they were rewatching the tapes in the first place. Arya nods weakly. “What?” he prompts, taking a seat beside her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. 

“A demon.” Lyanna replies. “The entity attached to your house is a demon.” 

“Is that… is that what you thought it was based on what we told you?” 

Lyanna nods. “Yes, but now I’ve seen it.” she gestures to the blank television screen. “So I can say for certain that it is in fact a demon, specifically an incubus.” 

“An incubus?” Gendry questions. Even he can hear the skepticism in his own voice. 

“Yes.”

“Why?” 

Arya shrugs as Lyanna replies. “I don’t know. Only the person who sealed it inside the house can answer that. I take it you still haven’t found them?” 

“No yet now. I have a friend in the deed registry office. I called him but he’s on vacation. He should be back tomorrow morning.” 

“Until we talk to the family, the only thing we can do is gather everything we might need for an exorcism. We can’t perform it though until we know all the details of it’s sealing.”

“Why not?” Gendry asks. 

“Because the family may have tried before and it failed, forcing them to seal it in. we need to know so we don’t do anything that could get anyone hurt.” 

“What kind of supplies do we need?” Arya asks, her voice small as she leans heavily into Gendry’s side. 

Lyanna shakes her head, standing from her seat. “Not now. Let’s get dinner, spend some time away from the house. Try to calm ourselves before we worry about anything else.” 

They agreed and together they left the house, the difference in feeling palpable as they stepped through the door. 


End file.
